Chapter 07: Return of the Wise       

       At the base, the whole crew was wondering about that wierd ascencion of my Dark Final. How bizzare it was, the fact that I transformed into that. There wasn't an explanation for that, at least not that I could manage to come up with. "Your latent power... It has started to surface." The voice I swore I heard was on to something. It's true that I had yet to fully understand the capabilities of my Final stages. But at that moment, it felt like my Dark Final, but it was something more than that. And if it was like that for Dark, how would it fair for Pure Final? The voice was getting louder, as I was suddenly getting my fatigue healed. "You've grown. I never expected you to ascend this far." As I opened my eyes, I saw who I thought I would never see again... "TYANNA" "Hey, Strider. Looks as if you've been well." The crew was in disbelief, which was a double take for myself! Tyanna looked... younger. Much like how I was when I first woke. "Try to transform again." I stared in disbelief, but soon understood what she was up to. "Got it. Here goes nothing!" I trusted her words, and summoned my Dark Final transformation. "Now then, try to transform past that, with all your pain as your power." I did that, and I began to... change. My hair was growing all over simultaneously, and the gray eyes I had before became entirely yellow: pupil and all. My hands felt like claws, and two more wings appeared. I let out a sneering howl. This power was irregular compared to Dark Final. "Just as I thought. This form is the full powers of your Dark Final. I call this Maximum Dark, or Midnight." "Mid... night...?"

       Midnight... the word for the darkest, a pitch-black feeling. I had become... that? "However, you've yet to fully manifest it. But you can't let it consume you either." That's true, at that time, I was controlled by it. The sound of Dawn calling out to me snapped me out of it. I may not be so fortunate next time. "However, since you can ascend past Dark Final, perhaps there is a way to ascend past Pure Final as well." It would make sense. But, this unbalance of powers didn't start until Ikkaku and myself coalesced into one being. I'm thinking that had something to do with that freak transformation to Midnight Stage.The sword has a part in this as well, as both powers from my standard Final stages was embedded within the two blades. "Strider," Tyanna started to speak, "You must ascend your Pure Final stage to keep things balanced. At the rate of things now, you'll be succumbed to your Midnight form if you try to transform to Dark Final again." She was right. Whatever the case, I had to go past Pure Final.

       During the shock of her revival, Tobias was furious. While Relica abandoned the trio to be with my son, who still lives, as well as Faust losing his life fighting against Midnight Stage, losing to me seemed to hurt him more than the latter combined. "I don't know what that transformation was, but I can't forget those merciless eyes of his. I was silent just seeing the inexpressible murdering of my comrade." That rage, just like Faust, helped him expand in size. "Strider, everything said about you was right. You HAVE to die!!" All the while, the informant who misled him was having his fill. "Excellent! These fools are doing just as I told them, as for Strider... he is as every bit lethal as I ever expected. Eventually, I will have him under my control. And both his powers, and his very essence, will belomng to me. For now, I think I should continue to manipulate poor Tobias a while longer..."